POLICY REPORT ON IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM IN LATVIA ...

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of the documents upon a request of supervision and control institutions. Also, it is planned to
provide in the Labour Law that the payment of unpaid salary of an illegally entered thirdcountry
national is the responsibility not only of his or her direct employer, but also a general
contractor, if he or she has fully or partially delivered the fulfilment of initial contractual
obligations to the employer. Changes also in other laws are planned in related to the
amendments to the Labour Law. The prepared amendment to the Latvian Administrative
Violations Code envisages an administrative fine to employers for employment of illegally
staying third-country nationals. The amount of a fine for natural persons is planned in the
amount of 150-350 lats, for legal entities 750-3,000 lats. A fine is envisaged for employment of
more than five such persons for natural persons in the amount of 350-500 lats, for legal entities
3,000-10,000 lats. The Amendment to the Criminal Law provides, in specific cases, criminal
liability of an employer for employment of third-country nationals who have entered the state
illegally. It is planned to apply it if a minor is employed, if people have been employed in
particularly exploiting work conditions, or if a victim of human trafficking has been employed
intentionally. Punishment to an employer for such offences is arrest, forced labour or a fine in
the amount of up to 200 minimum monthly wages.
Under the influence of the economic processes, the risk of employing or exploitation of
illegal immigrants in Latvia in 2010 was low. In its Declaration of November 2010 regarding
the planned activities of the [second] Cabinet of Ministers led by Valdis Dombrovskis, in the
field of internal security for development and growth of the State of Latvia, the Government
has undertaken to strictly control immigration from third countries, reduce illegal immigration
by acting against persons who provide work and place of residence for illegal immigrant, as
well as by improving the mechanism of detection, registration and expelling of illegal
immigrants. By taking into account the content of the Declaration and the EU directives,
several amendments to regulatory enactments have been elaborated in order to encourage
people to refrain from illegal activities in relation to illegal immigrants.
In 2010, the State Border Guard, in compliance with Section 189 of the Latvian
Administrative Violations Code for employment without a passport or work permit, called
employers to account in 22 cases.
In 2010 3 case have been initiated under Section 154.1 of the Criminal Law in Latvia
for exploitation of labour force, and now are in criminal proceedings. Punishment is envisaged
for the said offence depending on qualification: deprivation of liberty for a period of three to
fifteen years with or without seizure of property.
II(h) an Expulsion Decision taken by one Member State (MS) should be applicable throughout
the EU and entered into the SIS obliging other MSs to prevent the person concerned from
entering or residing
Please describe any relevant developments with regard to expulsion decisions and the
principle of mutual recognition of these decisions.
Latvia is rarely used as a transit country for fulfilment of a return decision or
deportation order which has been passed by another Member State of the European Union, thus
the State Border Guard has rare cases when it has to recognise in practice a return decision or
order issued in another Member State of the European Union.
5.2 Stockholm Programme (1-2 paragraphs in the text box created for each commitment)
The relevant commitments in the Stockholm Programme for this sub-section are in
particular: